


The First of Lost Boys

by Palizinha



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, but plays fast and loose with lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palizinha/pseuds/Palizinha
Summary: Before Baelfire was Neal Cassidy, before he left Neverland, he met someone. And perhaps life would never be the same.
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Prince Cassen didn’t exactly have the best life.

You see, when he was a small child, his mother had found out he had dreams of the future. That he could see what might happen, often what would happen.

And that was fine enough - some of his dreams were scary, but not all of them, and being able to see the future wasn’t a bad thing. But his mother, despite being the Queen, wanted more power. Their kingdom was rather small, and it was going through financial troubles.

And apparently there was nothing quite like having a magical son to appeal to neighboring kingdoms.

Cassen remembered, from a very small age, nobles of all kinds wanting proof of his powers. He had lost count of the nights he had been woken up several times until his dream was the one they wanted.

And then his mother had finally found someone to marry.

Cassen had believed at first that things would get better, but if his mother enjoyed power and money, it wasn’t as much as his new stepfather did.

His stepfather began to sell his dreams, to anyone that would pay, and the longer it went on, the more disturbing the dreams got.

It didn’t take too long until Cassen started wanting a way out.

He had magic, and maybe it was possible for him to use it to get away, to find somewhere better where no one knew of his powers and could use him.

Cassen started to research magic, in the few moments he managed to get away from everyone.

There were ways to travel to other lands, he found, and maybe there was one that would be better for him.

But before he managed to do what he wanted, The Incident happened.

It started like a normal day, his stepfather promising dreams to others, his mother standing there and letting him, all things Cassen wanted to get away from.

That night, however, the King and Queen were having a party.

Parties were the worst, because it often resulted in guests gawking at him, being general annoyances and making him wish even more he could get away.

“Here’s the magical little prince,” a man said with a smirk, and Cassen backed away, unsure on what he wanted.

“Stepfather will be unhappy if you do anything to me,” Cassen warned, which was true enough. His stepfather would hate losing the money having Cassen gave him.

“I won’t do any lasting damage,” the man promised, which didn’t sound very reassuring at all. He then took out a potion. “I just need you to drink this. You’ll fall asleep and, with any luck, will tell me what I need to know.”

And Cassen was tired of it.

People were always after his dreams, they always wanted just a little more information of what their future would bring. And he couldn’t lie, or when they found out he had lied they would be mad at him.

He wanted it to stop.

And maybe he thought that too hard, because he felt magic bursting out of him.

He closed his eyes, and when he finally opened them again, there were no people around him. Instead, the man in front of him and, soon he found out, the entire party guests had been turned into objects.

There was no one left to stare at him!

But his happiness barely lasted as he soon realized that people would know it was him. He was the only one in the kingdom known to have magical ability, and he was the only one in the party that hadn’t been affected.

Cassen closed his eyes and wished very hard to be somewhere else.

And that was exactly what happened.

Because in the next moment, a shadow burst out, moving with no person attached to it, and took him away.

When the flight stopped, they were somewhere else.

And Cassen was amazed, because he had never seen the sea in person before.

“Well, well, what do we have here,” he heard a boy’s voice, and turned around to see a teenager, looking just a year or two older than him.

“Hello, could you tell me where am I?” Cassen asked, the magic inside of him reacting to the teen, like he was a danger to it.

“Neverland.”

“I’ve never heard of it, is it too far away from the Kingdom of Lansperia?”

“This is another world, kid. And I’m the one who rules over it all. Peter Pan, at your service!”

Another world? It was everything Cassen ever wanted, and he finally had it.

“I hope you’re not too bothered that I’m here, then,” Cassen said. “I wanted to get away from… everyone.”

“Is there any reason why?” Peter Pan asked, and he looked genuinely worried. No one had ever looked at him with such compassion before.

“I have powers, you see,” Cassen decided to tell the truth, thinking that maybe he had finally found someone to trust.

“What kind of powers?” Peter Pan asked.

“I can look into the future, while I’m asleep,” Cassien said.

“You’re a seer,” Peter Pan said.

Cassen nodded. He had heard that term used in regards to him before, so it wasn’t surprising that Peter Pan knew about it.

“That’s good,” Peter Pan said, and then his entire expression changed.

Before Cassen knew what was happening, the shadow that had brought him there took hold of his arms.

“What do you want?” Cassen asked, realizing that he just wanted to use him for his powers, like everybody else.

“You see, there is something about this place that confuses me. I should have all the power, but I feel it slowly leaving me, even if it will take a couple more centuries for it to disappear. I want to know how to get it back,” Peter Pan said, taking out a dagger and putting it next to Cassen’s throat. “Then tell me, boy, how can I get my powers to not go away?”

Cassen resigned himself to it, and waited until he fell asleep.

There was something Cassen had learned over the years, and that was how to draw. People often wanted to know who they were destined to marry, and it helped to have a way to show them who it was.

And he saw a boy.

Cassen had no idea how long it would take until this boy would be born, but it would happen, and he would get to Neverland.

After Peter Pan was done with him, he threw him in a cage inside of a cave.

Cassen had dreams of another boy after that, one that somewhat reminded him of the one he had drawn for Peter Pan, but he couldn’t figure out what that dream was saying.

He was pretty sure he would never meet anyone again.


	2. Chapter 2

Baelfire kept hearing it.

A sound coming from the Echo Caves, like it was calling to him.

Bae knew it was a bad idea to follow sounds in Neverland. The sounds were often either cries of Lost Boys or a new game of Pan’s.

But this was different. He felt a connection to that sound, and a part of him wanted to follow it, even if he knew he shouldn’t.

He had never been to the Echo Caves, but he knew the stories. Sometimes Peter Pan trapped one of the Lost Boys in there and forced the others to rescue him, as a way to figure out their deepest secrets, to find new ways to control them.

Maybe Peter was just playing a game (though Bae didn’t know of any Lost Boy he would want to rescue), but…

It didn’t take that long for Baelfire to finally cave in and follow the voice, knowing very well what secret he would have to reveal.

Maybe it wasn’t a surprise to anyone, but it was a secret he guarded for very specific reasons. Mostly, he didn’t want to admit it aloud.

There was in fact someone trapped inside, a blond boy that Bae couldn’t remember ever seeing before despite having been in Neverland for a long time (probably, time was hard to tell, and he had long since stopped counting the days in his cave). Either he was very new, or he had been trapped in that cave for a long time.

But if that was the case, why was he only being called to it now?

“Hey,” Baelfire said, looking at the boy. “I know how to get you out of here, just…”

Maybe he wasn’t worth saving, just doing so and then he would join Pan or something, but he had a feeling this was different. Like he was calling to him.

“You don’t have to,” the boy said back, and while Baelfire couldn’t see him very well, he looked… worried?

Neal took a deep sigh, not quite believing that he was about to do this. “I dream of my father every night. Sometimes it’s just memories, but sometimes... he comes and saves me, and he’s back at being the man he used to be. We can finally be together.”

It was harder to admit than it sounded, but even though he liked to think that he had gotten over what happened, that he had grown beyond his father, seeing him again was his deepest wish, even if he knew it never would happen.

The Echo Caves responded to his secret, opening a path to the boy and getting him out of his cage.

The boy walked over to Bae, and looking at him was… striking. Bae had never quite felt that in his life.

“Thank you,” the boy said, offering Bae a hand. “I’m Cassen. Prince Cassen, I suppose, but not anymore, not after…”

“I’m Baelfire,” Bae took his hand and shook it. It was the first human contact he had with someone he was not fighting against since… Hook, though Bae didn’t want to think about it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Baelfire,” Cassen said formally.

“How does a Prince become a Lost Boy?” Baelfire asked, starting to walk and waiting for Cassen to walk with him. This could be good, maybe he would get company in his cave!

“I’m not a Prince anymore,” Cassen didn’t say more than that, but Bae supposed they all had secrets. Even if Cassen now knew his deepest one.

He’d get it out of him eventually.

“How long have you been a Lost Boy?” Bae asked, and then thought about it. “Well, you probably don’t know the exact amount of time, but… more or less?”

“What’s a Lost Boy?” Cassen asked. “Peter Pan was the only person in this place when I got here.”

“Are you the original Lost Boy?” Bae asked, surprised. He couldn’t quite believe that there was someone who had been there for long enough to know Neverland before it had Lost Boys.

“I… suppose?” Cassen said, cocking his head to look at Bae. “Baelfire, I don’t think Peter Pan will be very happy to know you rescued me. I was supposed to be there forever.”

“Yes, well, I’ve never been good at following Pan’s orders,” Bae said.

Cassen smiled at him after that, and Bae could feel his heart beat faster. When was the last time anyone had smiled at him? Probably Hook, again, but it was best not to think about him.

“I wonder, where are we going?” Cassen asked.

“My cave! It’s where I go to hide from the Lost Boys. Only Pan knows where it is, and he knows everything, so it’s about as safe as any place can be in Neverland.”

“If it’s such a secret, why are you taking me there?”

Bae paused at the question, confused himself at the reason. “I’ve got a good feeling about you, is all.”

Cassen looked happy, and he seemed so surprised by that it made Bae want to make him happy whenever he could. If he had been trapped in the Echo Caves for centuries, it was the least he deserved.

Bae led Cassen there, looking around to make sure everything was looking nice and then realizing that was a stupid thought, since it was a cave he used to hide from everyone.

“Drawings?” Cassen looked at them and Bae looked down.

“Yes, well, I like remembering what it was like before, when things weren’t this bad,” Bae said, sitting down and looking around, a bit embarrassed that someone else was viewing them.

“I don’t think I remember a time where things weren’t this bad,” Cassen admitted. “I think the whole being trapped inside a cave thing is actually better than what my old life was like.”

“Then maybe we can make the best of this bad situation and be there for each other, if no one else will,” Bae suggested, not sure why being around this boy made him feel better than he had since everything with his father had happened.

“I would like that,” Cassen said with a smile.

And so their partnership began.


	3. Chapter 3

They fell into companionship quickly, more than Bae had believed he was able to with anyone, after the last betrayal.

“Bae, do you ever think of getting out?” Cassen asked, looking at the drawings in the wall. Baelfire knew he wanted to ask what they meant, but he never had. Just like Bae hadn’t asked why Pan had trapped him in that cave for so long.

“Every day,” Bae admitted. “It doesn’t matter, really. No one leaves Neverland without Pan’s permission.”

“Maybe I could, maybe _we_ could,” Cassen said.

“Do you have any ideas how?”

“The Shadow! It’s what brought me here, wasn’t it? If it can take someone in, it can take someone out. We just need a way to convince it to,” Cassen said.

“I don’t think it’s that easy, Cassen,” Baelfire said, but started thinking about it. If it hadn’t been that long in the world outside, and there wasn’t really a way to know, he could go back to the Darlings. Introduce them to Cassen.

They could get out, be happy together forever.

Because the truth was, Baelfire wanted more than anything to be with Cassen forever. Even if it had to be in Neverland.

“I wanted to leave my home, when I got here,” Cassen admitted. “Stepfather wasn’t a good man, and my mom wasn’t much better. The Shadow took me and for a moment I thought I was free. Just traded one prison for another.”

“Neverland is… a cruel place. Maybe it was better before Pan, but now it’s just… nothing. You’re the only good thing to have happened to me here.”

There was Hook, at one point. And then it turned out the way it had.

“You’re the only good thing to have ever happened in my life, Bae,” Cassen said, and Bae could sense his honesty.

For a moment, Baelfire forgot everything. His father’s hand letting go of his. Hook turning out to not be better. The knowledge his mother had abandoned him when she could have taken him with her instead, when he knew his father wouldn’t have stopped her. None of that mattered.

“Cassen…” Bae stopped talking, not sure of what to say. Was there anything that could be said, when you found the first person in your life that felt like home since you lost your own?

Baelfire had never kissed anyone. It wasn’t something that was true to every boy his age, but by the time he thought about the matter his father was already the Dark One, and no one would have kissed the Dark One’s son.

Cassen didn’t know that part of his past, just like he didn’t know much of Cassen’s own past. But it didn’t matter then.

Because they did kiss, and it almost felt like rainbows came out from it.

It was a nice first kiss, though then neither of them knew it would be their last.

Because rainbows did come out of the kiss, and that isn’t a good idea in Neverland, of all places.

Hours later, as Baelfire walked though the woods, he knew it wasn’t a good idea to leave his cave for too long, but he needed something to do while Cassen slept (Bae had never seen Cassen sleep for more than a couple hours before, but he had been asleep for a while now. Bae hoped he was having good dreams).

He didn’t quite know what he was looking for, but he did end up finding Hook.

Or, more accurately, Hook found him.

“Baelfire! I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Captain Hook said, and Bae didn’t quite understand why that would be the case.

“I don’t want anything to do with you, Hook,” Baelfire passed over him, but Hook grabbed his arm before he could get away.

“It’s not a bad thing, Bae. It’s a great thing, I promise,” Hook sounded honest enough.

“What do you want?”

“My time in Neverland is at an end. I have done a final job for Pan, and he’s letting me leave permanently,” Hook explained. “I want you to leave with me. For Milah.”

It was too good to be true, but Bae was tired of Neverland, he wanted to leave it if he could, but he wouldn’t be leaving alone.

“Only if I can take someone else with me,” Baelfire said, strongly.

Hook raised an eyebrow. “Lost Boys aren’t a very friendly bunch. Who could you possibly want to take away from this place?”

“He’s at my cave, we’ll go there and ask him if he wants to leave too. Otherwise I won’t be going with you at all,” Baelfire had never taken anyone but Cassen to his cave before, but if Hook was telling the truth…

Hook looked around after they got there. “Your cave, huh? I often hear Lost Boys saying they can’t find you, is this where you’ve been the whole time?”

“I’ve moved around a little, but this is my current home. And my last in Neverland, apparently,” Bae knelt down close to Cassen, who was still sleeping. “Cassen, wake up.”

Cassen did wake up, looking confused. “I didn’t… Bae, what happened?”

“You’ve been sleeping for hours! Did you get sick or something? Anyway, no time for this, I got us a ticket out of Neverland!”

Cassen seemed to notice Hook was there, because he got up and took a few steps back.

“Don’t worry, kid, not here to do anything to you,” Hook said with a shrug. “I want to take Bae out of this world and he’s only accepting to leave with you. So, off we go then.”

Cassen seemed cautious, but he walked over to where Hook was, Bae following closely behind him.

But not close enough, because he couldn’t do anything but watch as Hook, who had taken out his sword on the way there in order to cut a path for someone taller than the usual Lost Boy, stabbed Cassen.

“Cassen!” Bae said, catching him as he fell down. He looked up at Hook, who seemed apologetic but firm.

“Well, now we can go.”

“Are you insane? What the hell was that for?” Bae asked, trying to stop the bleeding.

“When I said I had done a final job for Pan, I actually meant that I was in the process of doing it. I killed this friend of yours, Pan would let me leave and take you with me. It wasn’t a hard bargain.”

“After this, I’m not going anywhere with you, Hook,” Baelfire said firmly, almost crying but trying to stop himself from doing that.

“As you wish,” Hook nodded. “Don’t say I didn’t try to get you out, though.”

Hook left, and Bae wished with all he had that Cassen wouldn’t die.

But he knew he would, and Cassen knew that too.

Cassen put his hand over Bae’s bloodied one, a small smile on his face. “Bae… thank you. For... the only good night of sleep I have ever had. And everything else.”

“You can thank me later,” Bae said, letting himself cry now that Hook wasn’t there to watch anymore.

“Say hi for Henry for me, when you meet him.”

Bae ignored the weird phrase, not being able to say anything as Cassen’s life faded away.

The thing about True Love was that losing it left a mark. And when the only True Love who ever graced Neverland fell to night, so did the world. It would never be light again in Neverland, after all.

Baelfire didn’t know that then, but it still felt like his world lost its light.


End file.
